State polls: DAP to contest all incumbent seats

BALIK PULAU - DAP has announced its intention to contest in all incumbent seats across four out of the six states in the upcoming polls on August 12.

DAP Secretary-General Anthony Loke revealed that the party holds a total of 48 incumbent seats, with 19 in Penang, 16 in Selangor, 11 in Negeri Sembilan, and 2 in Kedah.

"The number of seats has stayed the same. We only contest in the seats we had won. DAP will contest all the incumbent seats in the upcoming state polls.

"I haven't counted the total number of seats yet, but there are 19 seats in Penang," he told a press conference after a driver's licence handover ceremony under MyLesen B2 programme at a driving school in Balik Pulau on Saturday.

Penang has 40 state assembly seats and in the 2018 General Election, Pakatan Harapan (PH) won 37 seats when Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) was still part of PH.

After Bersatu left the coalition and two PKR assemblymen joined Bersatu after being expelled from the party, four seats, namely Seberang Jaya, Sungai Acheh, Teluk Bahang and Bertam, fell under Perikatan Nasional (PN).

On the list of candidates, the Transport Minister said that until now, Central DAP has yet to receive any list of candidates from the state leaders.

"The candidates will be announced later. The list of candidates has yet to be made available. We have yet to receive it from the state level. When will it be announced? Anytime before the nomination day.

"I'll back here. In these three weeks, I will come to Penang often in another capacity. Today (Saturday) is only for official duties.

"I am transparent with the media. This time, there will be no meeting with the party leaders. I will return to Kuala Lumpur at 4.45pm later," he said.